


I'd Recognize that Mullet Anywhere

by noahliza



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst and Fluff, Galra Keith (Voltron), M/M, Slow Burn, also Pidge is nb, mentions of Pidge's family, post ep 11, shiro's not doing great tbh
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-05
Updated: 2016-08-17
Packaged: 2018-07-29 11:43:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 10,492
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7683214
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/noahliza/pseuds/noahliza
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Three months after being separated by Haggar's magic messing with a wormhole, Keith is still missing. As everyone's hope dwindles. Coran receives a message that the Red Lion's signal has been found</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Introduction - Red Lion's Signal

Lance wandered idly around the Castle of Lions after a group exercise with the training dummies. Usually he would relax or chat with one of his teammates, but everyone’s moods had been slowly sliding downhill. They had been for some time. After getting separated by the Galra messing up a wormhole, things had been tough. Four of the five Paladins had been found relatively quickly, but Keith and the Red Lion were still nowhere to be found, and it was slowly taking its toll on team morale. 

Shiro, ever the respectable leader, tried his best to keep everyone positive about the situation. Whenever he could, he would be saying things like, ‘it’s not too late to find him,’ and ‘don’t worry, Keith is adaptable, he’s doing fine wherever he is.’ Coran tended to loudly agree with Shiro, telling the group things like ‘just sit with your ducks here, and we will find him!’ At this point, it seemed like he was just using certain phrases wrong just to try and get the paladins to crack a smile. Allura didn’t say much about it, leaving the words of comfort to Shiro and Coran. She definitely didn’t seem to have a positive outlook though. Hunk, being a huge worrier, wasn’t so convinced. It seemed like he had lost his last bits of hope in finding Keith weeks ago, but he still would smile and humor Shiro’s comforting words. Pidge refused to talk about it most of the time, but they were clinging to a shred of hope still. If they wanted to believe that they could find their family still, they had to believe that Keith was okay too.

Lance sat sprawled out in one of the common area’s couches. How was he feeling about it? He sighed loudly to himself. He’d been keeping a brave face, agreeing with Shiro that they’d find him, comforting Hunk when he seemed particularly upset, trying his best to keep the general mood light for everyone. But really? He didn’t think he’d ever see that grump again. He wasn’t sure how to explain why, but the castle felt...empty without him. Training without him was weird. Sharing meals without him was weird. Fighting the Galra empire was near impossible without all five paladins being present to form Voltron. And then, everything just seemed quiet. He’d never admit it, but he really missed fighting and arguing with his rival. Lance and Keith, neck and neck. 

The castle’s comm system pinged, and Lance sat upright to listen better.   
“Excuse me everyone!” Coran’s voice came through, “Please come to the control room immediately! The Red Lion’s signal has been found!” The comms pinged again, signaling the end of the transmission.

Lance practically jumped off of the couch, running to the control room. They’d found the red lion! They found him! That meant he was okay...right?

Everyone gathered in the control room quickly. It seemed like Lance wasn’t the only one that had rushed as fast as they could.   
“Alright, so there’s some good news, and some news that I can’t qualify as good or bad yet.” Coran started. “The good news is that the Red Lion’s signal is in space, and not on a planet, so Keith is definitely alive. The other news is that he’s far away. We’ll have to warp to him, so we can’t see if he is okay or not until we get close enough for the comms to work.”  
“Regardless, this is wonderful news!” Allura smiled. “Paladins, get in your lions! We need to be prepared to help Keith to the castle if he is injured!”   
“Right!” the four responded, going as quickly as they could.

As soon as they announced they were ready to go, Allura started the warp. It went smoothly, which was a new fear of everyone’s after being separated. They had warped closely enough that they could see the Red Lion clearly. Coran pinged it’s comm system, and it crackled loudly. The screen that should be showing Keith’s face was just static. You could barely make out the red of his helmet.  
“Damaged...hmm. Keith! Can you hear me! It’s Coran!” He spoke extra clearly, in case the speakers were damaged as well.  
“I can hear you,” Keith’s voice came through garbled, distorted. “You...found me?”  
“Yes, we found your signal only a short while ago! Are you alright? We came to bring you back!”  
Keith’s comm microphone only responded with a crackling hissing sound. On the map section of the screen, the Red Lion’s icon started moving away from the ship’s.   
“He’s flying away…?” Allura said under her breath. “Paladins! Something is wrong, bring the Red Lion to the castle, hurry! Keith may be in danger!”


	2. 1 - Infiltration?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Now that it's safely back in the Castle of Lions, there's definitely something going on with the Red Lion and its pilot.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fast update! Yeah!

It had been almost three months since the paladins had all been separated by the Galra. Three long months of waiting, searching, and reuniting. Now finally, the last had been found. The four paladins stood near the Red Lion nervously. The Red Lion had flown away from the castle for some reason, and it had put everyone on edge, despite everyone’s moods being lifted at the news that it had been found. 

"Uh, guys I-" Hunk started. He was interrupted right away by the Red Lion’s comms crackling to life.  
"I'm... not sure how to say this. but I have to leave. I can't stay here with you guys. I can't form voltron with you anymore." Keith's voice spoke through the comms, still sounding distorted. He sounded distressed, Lance thought.  
"What?! What are you talking about?!" Pidge shouted, "You're the one who got all upset when I was trying to leave before, and now you're trying to?? What happened?? "

"Please just...leave the hangar. I'll take an escape pod. I just can't, okay?"  
"No way, at least just talk to us first, Keith. "Shiro spoke calmly, but was clearly feeling strained.  
"Okay." The comm's crackling died, and the Red Lion's mouth opened up. When Keith didn't come out, Shiro started forward to investigate.  
"Hey! Something's running from the back of the Red Lion!" Pidge shouted, pointing.  
"Is that -- is that a Galra!?" Hunk asked, in disbelief.  
"Come on, we have to catch him! Someone go see if Keith's in there!" Shiro started after the Galra. Lance broke off from the group, running into the Red Lion. Hunk and Pidge followed after Shiro.

The red lion was empty. Something seemed off...There wasn't any signs of a struggle in the lion. Keith's armor, red jacket, and bayard were even set neatly down. Lance took off again out of the lion towards the rest of the group, watching the Galra intently. It was...wearing Keith's clothes? Those were definitely his jeans, definitely his signature black tee shirt. Not that Lance would notice Keith's usual clothing choices. But even beyond that. That was definitely Keith's mullet on that Galra. And that meant--

Lance's train of thought was broken by Pidge throwing the end of their bayard, wrapping itself around the Galra's legs, knocking him to the ground. The Galra landed hard on his face, a choked sound coming from him as the wind was knocked out of him.  
"Got him!" Pidge shouted triumphantly, "Now we can figure out what he's doing here." The three paladins started forward, weapons at the ready.  
"WAIT!" Lance caught up to the group, separating them from the Galra, "Wait wait wait!!" The group stopped, looking at him in confusion.  
"What is it, Lance?" Shiro asked, "What's gotten into you?"  
"Okay, so this is going to sound totally crazy, but--"  
"The Galra's getting away!" Hunk shouted.  
While everyone was distracted with Lance, he had untangled the bayard from his legs and started running away, not looking back.  
"Oh, quiznak! We had him, Lance! Why'd you do that?" Pidge looked at him in frustration.  
"It's fine!" Lance took off, sprinting after the escaping Galra. He caught up and tackled him to the ground, the Galra crying out in surprise as he went down. That definitely sounded like Keith's voice. Lance made sure that the Galra stayed pinned, despite him struggling to get free again.

The rest of the paladins caught up shortly. "Okay, so, will you tell us what this 'totally crazy' thing is?" Shiro asked.  
Lance nodded. "This Galra," he gestured to his struggling capture, "didn't do anything to Keith."  
"That doesn't make any sense, Lance." Hunk looked at him in confusion, "How would he get the red lion then?"  
"Because, Hunk," Lance spoke smugly, proud of himself for being the one to figure it out, "This Galra IS Keith." Lance’s captive stopped struggling almost immediately, as if to silently confirm what he had said.  
"What?? That doesn't make any sense at all! How could Keith just turn into a Galra?" Pidge looked at Lance incredulously.  
"Look. He's wearing Keith's clothes. And that mullet. I'd recognize that mullet anywhere! If he said something and it was Keith's voice, would you believe me?"  
"I...guess?" Shiro rubbed the back of his neck, not sure what to make of this whole situation. 

“Just let me go" The Galra-Keith said, sounding defeated. He turned his head, looking away from his fellow paladins, but making it so his face was no longer smashed on the floor.  
"See?" Lance was being smug again, "I told you."

"I said let me go! It doesn't matter!" Galra-Keith protested, "I can't...I can't do this any more. I can't be a paladin any more. I can't."  
"Can you tell us what happened? What did they do to you? I - I mean the Galra did this to you somehow, right?" Shiro asked. He was doing his best to seem calm, but his eyes betrayed the horror he felt that one of his own had apparently been experimented on like he had with his arm -- but much worse.  
"You can't just leave!" Pidge protested.  
"Shiro's right, at least tell us what happened" Hunk added.

"Fine." Keith started, "But Lance needs to get off me first," He grumbled. That sounded...close to the Keith that Lance and everyone else was used to. Lance obliged and Keith slowly stood up. He looked down at the ground, letting his hair cover part of his face. His big catlike Galran ears were laying down, betraying how he really felt.

Everyone silently made their way down the hallways towards the control room, where Allura and Coran waited. The mood was strained, awkward; but no one knew how to break the silence.  
"Hey -- KEITH!" Pidge cried out. There's one way to do it. Keith broke from the group, running forward. Lance tore off after him, a couple ticks before the other three, but they were too slow. Keith had locked himself in his room. 

"Seriously!?" Lance banged his fist on the door, "Keith, c'mon man!" He continued banging on the door until the other paladins caught up. Shiro gently stopped him, grabbing him by the wrist.  
"It's fine, Lance. He's...clearly been through a lot. Let's just let him collect himself for a while, okay?"

After a bit, the group stopped lingering and walked on to tell Allura and Coran what they did know so far. Lance paused a moment, gazing back at Keith's door. What had happened to him??

After filling the two Alteans in on what happened in the hangar, the rest of the day was uneventful. Lance wandered in and out of his room all day between training and chores, instead of milling around in common areas like he usually did. He found himself glancing at Keith's door every time he went past. Every time, he unsuccessfully tried to convince himself that it was fine. Everything was fine. Everything wasn't fine.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, this is my first fic! Please let me know how I'm doing in the comments, I'm open to constructive criticism!  
> This will most likely have 8 chapters, I'm still tweaking the last part, though so I'm leaving the chapter number a question mark for now :)  
> You can also contact me at ladynikkiliza.tumblr.com or twitter.com/nikkineedssleep!


	3. 2 - Sleepless in Space

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance just can't fall asleep with everything that's been happening.

Lance couldn't sleep. It was probably three am right now. Or at least it felt like it, he still had trouble figuring out the Altean clocks. "Welp...time for a bathroom break, I guess?" he mumbled to himself. He didn't really have to go, but maybe a bit of walking would help quell his restlessness. 

He walked quietly through the hallway, eyes half closed from the difference of light from his dark bedroom to the brightly lit hallway. His eyes flew open as he saw a movement at the bathroom doorway. He crept over, curious to see who else was up at this time. Being unable to sleep always felt better with someone to complain with and talk to. He entered the bathroom and was surprised to see Keith midway into hiding into the showers. His ears flattened to his head and he dashed in further.

"Keith, dude, seriously? Why are you hiding from me?" Lance followed him into the showers.  
"Go away!" Keith snapped at him, "Don't look at me!"  
"What? Why!?" Lance swallowed nervously, he wasn't the best at serious situations...and this was clearly serious.   
"Are.... are you kidding me? Do you not..just....just look!" Keith gestured at himself, "Do you not see this? I look like the enemy! I...I'm the enemy!"   
"Uhh, last time I checked you were Keith. And Keith is a paladin, not the enemy. Soooo...." Lance trailed off. He was having a hard time wording this as seriously as he probably should be.

Keith slid down against the wall and sat down on the floor. "Tch." he stared up at Lance, his face an indecipherable mix of emotions. Lance looked away, not sure what to do. He felt a weight in his stomach, anxiety and confusion and worry over his teammate.  
Keith grimaced when Lance looked away. He knew no one would want to look at him when he looked like this...like the monster of an enemy they were fighting. He waited for Lance to do something. Interrogate him, attack him, something.

After a few agonizing moments, Lance sat down next to Keith. He almost jumped from the surprise. "What are you doing?"  
"Uh..sorry. I'm not really sure how to react to this I guess? But...whatever happened to you, you're still my teammate, okay?" Lance looked at him. Keith could tell he meant it. He quickly looked away from Lance's sincerity, squeezing his Galran yellow eyes shut. He didn't know how to handle things like that. 

The two sat together in silence, and eventually both fell asleep there, leaning against each other. Lance was the first to wake. He stared at the bathroom's clock groggily for a moment. They hadn't been asleep that long, but it was early morning. He gently shook Keith to wake him up as well. Keith's ears twitched a bit as he woke, and Lance looked away, blushing slightly. He looked like a sleeping kitty...it was kind of adorable.   
"wha's happenin?" Keith mumbled, eyes half closed.  
"Um, we fell asleep in the bathroom." Lance started. "It's...probably still really early, but if you want to...keep avoiding everyone you should go back to your room. You know how bad of an early riser Coran is..." 

Keith snapped his head up, fully awake. He said nothing as he ran out of the bathroom, Lance following suit. Keith had shut himself in his room again. Lance sighed in...disappointment? And continued down into his room. He was sleeping in today, he didn't care what happened. 

Lance didn't sleep in. He rubbed his tired eyes as he entered the control room, lagging behind the other paladins. They clearly hadn't slept well either. But Lance was definitely the most tired of the four. Lance was not surprised that Keith was nowhere to be seen.

"Shiro, please tell me what happened, why have you called for this meeting?" Allura asked, concerned but poised as always. Well, almost always.   
"Keith left a message for us outside my door this morning," Shiro started, "I think we should all listen to it together."  
"Yes! Clearly this is of the utmost importance!" Coran nodded, "even though he recorded it instead of telling us himself" he twirled his mustache in his fingers thoughtfully, "Must still be rather upset."  
Allura nodded as well, "Yes, let's go ahead and take a look at the message."  
"Alright" Shiro fiddled with the recording device and a holographic screen projected outward. It showed Keith for a fraction of a tick before the recorder was moved, showing Keith's bedroom wall.   
"I'm not...really sure how to explain this all." Keith's voice came through the recorder, it sounded shaky and upset, "But...I'm...Galran. They didn't really do anything to make me look this way...this is apparently what I actually look like. I...I guess I'm maybe part human, or something. They didn't really...didn't really care enough to tell me. I don't know if they even knew. But...I can't be a paladin any more. I can't...I can't be a defender of the universe if I'm one of the things we're defending against...So...just, please let me go. Let me take a pod and find some corner of the universe to hide from them. I don't want to be like them..." Keith's voice had started sounding choked, and the recording ended abruptly. 

"How-- how is that possible?" Hunk questioned, looking around at everyone. "How did he look like a human before then? This doesn't make any sense still!"  
"Maybe he doesn't know how exactly..?" Pidge questioned in reply.  
"What should we do?" Allura was thinking hard, "I...don't think I've heard of anything like this happening before."  
"We should probably wait until Keith comes out and talks to us himself...what do you think?"  
Allura nodded.  
"I guess..this doesn't feel right to me still. Just...really weird." Hunk said, "maybe not bad, but at least weird"  
Pidge sighed, "I don't like waiting around, but I guess we don't have much of an option save breaking down his door or something. What do you think, Lance?"  
Lance was halfway down the hallway, running towards Keith's room. The rest of the group chased after him.  
"Lance! Leave him some time to himself, he probably needs it!" Coran called out.


	4. 3 - Explanations, sort of

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith (kind of) tells all.

It was too late, Lance was pounding on Keith's door already. "Keith! Open up! I know you're in there!"  
Shiro took a step forward to stop Lance, but before he could respond, the door opened just enough for a purple hand to drag Lance inside. Lance let out a yelp as he flew in, the doors locking behind him.

"Um. Should we stay out here and make sure everything's okay?" Hunk wondered aloud to the group.  
"Probably? Just in case." Shiro nodded.  
"Coran and I will take our leave for now, please let us know if anything happens" Allura requested. The three paladins nodded in response, and the two Alteans took their leave back to the control room.

Inside Keith's room was dark. Lance's eyes adjusted to the dark slowly, and found Keith on the other side of his room.  
"Um..why did you drag me in here?"  
"Seriously? You're the one banging on my door! If you don't want to talk to me then fine!" Keith snapped.  
"Hey, hey! Sorry! I just...wasn't expecting it, okay?" Lance shifted to a more comfortable sitting position, "Then...was there anything you wanted to talk to me about, since you literally yanked me in here?"  
"No." Keith said plainly, almost snapping again. A moment passed in silence before he spoke again, "Well. I wanted to say...thanks. I guess. For what you said this morning. It was nice."

Lance hoped Keith's catlike Galra form didn't have catlike eyesight, because he'd blushed a bit at that comment. "What do you mean nice?"  
"It was a nice thing for you to say. I...feel really bad leaving." Keith wondered silently why Lance was blushing. It wasn't totally unlike him, but was usually directed at some flirty alien babe. Ugh.  
"Then stay!" Lance blurted out. Now Keith was the one blushing.   
"Why? Why would you...you guys want me to?"   
"Seriously!? It's not like we hate you, dude! I'm wor -- we're all worried like crazy! We wanna know what's going on, what happened to you, y'know?"  
"I can't go out there and face everyone..." Keith muttered.  
"You're kinda facing me right now?" Lance questioned.  
"That's different, we bonded remember? I cradled you in my arms!"   
"Oh ha ha. Let's all remember the time I almost died" Lance smiled a bit. Maybe Keith was starting to feel better. 

There was a knock at the door, and Shiro's muffled voice, "Is everything okay in there?"  
"Everything's fine! Uh, hey Keith, maybe you could tell all of us, they could probably hear you if you sit next to the door" Lance suggested. Keith nodded silently and the two sat by the door.   
"Can you hear me okay?" Keith asked  
"Yeah, we can hear ya!" Hunk replied  
"Are you going to tell us what happened?" Shiro asked.  
"Yeah. So...like I said in that recording. I'm...part Galran. Or something. I started to think something was up a while ago...when I got my lion off the Galran ship, their insignia looked familiar...really familiar. I realized it's..the same as on the knife I have. It's covered up, though. Ad when we saved the Balmera, and Lance and I were in that Galran control room, I was able to close the flight door with my hand, but none of you except Shiro can do that..and only with his prosthetic arm."  
"Why didn't you say anything?" Shiro asked.  
"How would you bring up something like that? I just..ignored it I guess. Told myself it was nothing. I...I don't want to talk about what happened. But they got me...and there was this lady, she did something that 'revealed what I really am' or something...I blended in pretty well for not being Galran height...and I had my lion guide me back to it...I was just gonna go somewhere secluded in it until you guys found me...it must have sent out a comm signal without me knowing..." Keith was visibly distressed telling what he told, Lance was afraid of what may have happened to Keith that he wasn't mentioning.   
"That's...a lot to take in." Hunk said quietly, barely audible through the door.   
"Yeah..." Pidge replied, equally quiet.  
"We'll leave you alone a while, okay?" Shiro asked, "Let you calm down. But...you know you're free to come out when you're ready. You're still you." 

Keith waited silently until the three sets of footsteps were out of earshot. He slowly staggered up and curled up on his side on his bed.   
"Keith..?" Lance started cautiously, "I know this is a dumb question, but are you okay?"  
Keith snorted a laugh, "Seriously?" he turned around to face Lance, still curled up. "No, I'm not." Lance got up and sat on the floor next to Keith's bed. He leaned his head on the edge of it, looking at Keith. He wished there was something he could do. The combination of the dark room and his own exhaustion lulled Lance to sleep soon after.


	5. 4 - Training Incident

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Paladins experience a difficult training session.

Lance woke still on Keith’s bed the next morning. Wait. Keith’s bed!? His eyes snapped open to see the still-sleeping Galra next to him. In a silent panic, Lance flopped backwards off the edge of the bed. He landed with a loud thump, waking Keith; who peeked down at him, his yellow eyes almost shining in the dark.   
“Um. Good morning?” Lance offered awkwardly.   
“Morning.” Keith replied.   
“Did you, um, sleep okay?” Lance asked.  
“Yeah, fine.” Keith yawned. He sounded tired. He probably didn’t sleep fine. Lance wasn’t sure what to do, and decided to take him at his word.

Lance got up off the floor and stretched. Then the comm system pinged, and Allura’s voice came through.  
“Good afternoon, Paladins! It may be a bit soon, but I would like to get all five of you into the training room if possible. I...do understand if that is too difficult, Keith. Regardless, I will require the other four come to train. I do fear that your sparring and teamwork skills may get rusty with disuse. We do not want to be taken off guard by the -- by an attack. I will see you all in the training room soon!” the comm pinged again to signal the end of the transmission.   
“Afternoon?! How did we sleep in so late?” Lance panicked.  
“You mean how did you sleep in so late...I just stayed in bed because I didn’t want to wake you.” Keith replied.  
“Oh, whatever! You were just yawning!” Lance pouted.  
“Yeah. Laying in bed all day was making me sleepy. But that doesn’t mean I was sleeping.” Keith retorted.  
“Sure, sure.” Lance said, and looked over at Keith, “Are you gonna go?”  
Keith nodded silently, he didn’t look ready yet, but Lance didn’t think it was his place to say anything. 

 

The five paladins stood back to back as training drones dropped from the ceiling, encircling them. They readied their bayards, and started their attack. Things were moving smoothly, considering the five hadn’t trained or fought together in 3 months. 

Then Keith backed into Pidge by accident, knocking them over. Shiro stopped dead in his tracks, staring straight at the two of them. Past them, almost.   
“Shiro?” Hunk started.

Shiro started forward. His eyes were unfocused, despite looking straight at Keith. “GALRA!” he shouted, lunging towards him  
“Sh-Shiro!?” Keith shrunk down, ears back. But he didn’t move out of the way.  
Lance sprinted over from his position in the group, “SHIRO, STOP!” he slid to a stop in front of Keith, arms spread like a protective wall between him and Shiro.  
Shiro stopped, almost skidding on the smooth training room floor. Snapping out of it, his eyes widened. “Keith...Keith I’m so sorry…” he reached out towards him.  
“I can’t do this.” Keith got up and ran out of the room.  
Lance stood in place, looking between Shiro and the door. He wasn’t sure who to be more worried about. 

Pidge got up from the floor, unscathed but as shocked as everyone else. “Shiro, what happened?”  
“Yeah, that was...not good. Are you okay?” Hunk approached him.  
“I...I don’t know...I just...I blanked, I guess. I didn’t see Keith, I saw a Galra soldier.” Shiro’s voice shook. “I’ll be taking my leave as well...I’m so sorry everyone.” he slowly left the training room as well.   
Lance gaped for a moment after this, actually processing what happened now. Hunk silently nudged him with his elbow and he took off, heading for Keith’s room. 

Lance got to Keith’s room pretty quickly and went to open the door. It was locked. Of course. Lance sighed and knocked, “Keith, c’mon, its me. Let me in.” He waited a long moment and got no response. “Keith! Open the door or I’ll climb in through your air vent! I mean it!” Keith still didn’t answer. Was he even in there? Where else would he even go? Lance’s eyes widened and he took off down the hallway again. Was Keith trying to leave again?!

Lance caught up to Keith, who was prepping an escape pod with essentials, food mostly, as well as med kits. He didn’t exactly look like he was glad to be leaving.  
“Keith!” Lance yelled, running up to him.  
“Lance?!” Keith jumped in surprise, ears perking up and almost immediately flattening back against his head. “What are you doing here?”  
“Stopping you!” Lance retorted, “You can’t just leave!” He stepped closer to Keith.  
“I have to…” Keith said quietly, “You saw what happened, I just…”  
“Keith…” Lance murmured, moving closer again.  
“That was the first training session, and all that happened, I can’t cause any more issues than this. I don’t want to hurt you guys...I can’t hurt Shiro like that, the Galras messed him up so bad, I can’t make that worse!”

A strange, bitter feeling rushed through Lance’s body, making his face feel flushed. “Y-yeah, Shiro..” he replied quietly.  
Keith sunk down, leaning against the outside of the pod, “I just...he was kind of like a father to me at the Garrison, so…”  
“Like a father?” Lance sat across from him, slouched forward a bit.  
“Yeah...that might sound dumb, but he was. I don’t know if you know but I...didn’t have a family back on earth. I grew up as an orphan. Its why I lived in that shack after I got kicked out, I didn’t have a home to go back to. Shiro was the first person that ever believed in me, y’know?”  
The bitter feeling churned in Lance’s stomach, becoming more of a normal feeling of discomfort. “I had no idea, Keith...I’m so sorry”  
“It’s not really a thing I want to talk about, ever.” Keith looked down at the ground. He looked so small and sad hunched over like that, Lance thought. Without thinking, he reached over and wrapped Keith in a hug. Keith backed away at first, but slowly moved back forward, leaning into Lance.

“Well, hey...like you said, it was our first training exercise since we got back. It’s been a day and a half since you came back. This is a big thing to get used to, especially for Shiro. But we’re a team! Your personality hasn’t changed at all, and that’s the important part of you.” Keith was surprised how serious Lance was being. He looked away, letting his hair fall in his face. He didn’t want Lance to see that he was blushing a bit.

“It might not seem like it to you,” Lance continued, “But we don’t want you to leave the team. I don’t want you to leave the team.”  
Keith whipped his head back around and stared at Lance. “What are you saying…?” he asked quietly.

Lance’s face was red too now. “Ah, crap. I, um. Listen. I had a lot of time without you to think...about you..?” he started. Keith stared at him incredulously. “And, well...the whole rivalry thing...I just wanted you to react, to pay attention to me. I wanted your attention so badly. I like you, Keith.” 

Keith’s eyes widened, his blush deepening, “No way.” he shook his head, not believing what he was hearing. No way someone like Lance, someone so upbeat, could like him.  
Lance looked hurt. “I’m serious, Keith! You’re just...ughh!” he leaned his head on Keith’s shoulder. “You’re great. I don’t care that you’re a Galra, part Galra, whatever. I still think you’re great.”  
“I...think you’re great too” Keith murmured. Lance shot up, looking Keith in the eyes, as if he was waiting for Keith to say he was joking. “You’re so...carefree, and you just. You just. Ugh, I don’t even know!” Keith leaned backwards on the pod again, frustrated with himself. He looked at Lance again, who now had a dopey surprised look on his face.

“So does that mean...you…?”  
“Ugh, yes!” Keith huffed. “I like you too.” Lance grinned, ecstatic. He tightened his hug on Keith, who grumbled for a moment before reciprocating. The two remained in their embrace for some time, before separating slowly.   
“I think I’m gonna unpack the pod.” Keith said, a faint smile on his lips.  
“Want me to help?” Lance asked. Keith nodded in reply. The two unpacked the ship quietly and walked down the hallway to the kitchens, stealing glances at each other when the other wasn’t looking.


	6. 5 - Transmission

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> next few chapters might take a bit more time since I'm going to add some stuff, so enjoy this quick update!

When the two arrived, Hunk was in the kitchen, doing his thing. Keith stiffened and started to back out of the room.

“Hey, hey, Keith wait!” Hunk called out to him, “You don’t need to leave, I’m fine with you in here.”  
Keith nodded silently and stepped back forward to where he was, but didn’t come closer. Lance put away the containers of food that he had been carrying.  
“You know we don’t blame you for what happened today, right?” Hunk asked Keith. Keith kept silent, eyes cast downward. Hunk glanced up at him before continuing, “I can tell you do. But listen, you shouldn’t, okay? It was just one small misstep. It happens. Shiro’s just...dealt with a lot. He’ll come around.”  
Keith nodded, not looking up. “Thanks, Hunk.” He slowly walked across the kitchen and put the food he was carrying away. The two walked down the hall without a word.

The silence was broken once the two were inside Keith’s room.  
“What if they do blame me?” Keith curled up on his bed. “What if Hunk’s lying just to make me feel better?” He looked at Lance, ears flattened back and eyes wide with worry.  
“No way, Keith. I really doubt Shiro and Pidge blame you at all. And you know Hunk by now, he couldn’t tell a lie unless his life actually depended on it.” Lance shook his head. He sat on the bed next to Keith  
“I guess...Hunk’s pretty honest, yeah.” Keith said quietly. “But…”  
“You’re worried about Shiro, right?” Lance asked.  
Keith nodded, “Yeah. I mean..Pidge too, but..Shiro’s opinion matters a lot to me..”  
Lance felt a lesser version of the bitter feeling from before wash over him. He knew what Keith meant, but he couldn’t help it. “I understand. Maybe, tomorrow, when everything’s calmed down you can try to talk to him about it.”  
“Yeah...that sounds good.” Keith agreed. He flashed a small smile at Lance, and then leaned up against him. “Thanks...for listening to me and everything. I’m not used to sharing stuff like this.”  
“You’ll get used to it.” Lance said confidently. “Well, I hope you do.”   
“Maybe.” Keith said quietly. “We should both probably try to get some sleep so you don’t sleep the morning away again.” he smirked at Lance, who stuck his tounge out in silent response.   
The two got comfy on Keith’s bed, not quite close enough to be cuddling; and went to sleep.

 

Everyone on the ship was startled awake by the castle’s alarm system. They all rushed to the control room, in time to see a Galran soldier on the screen.  
“Greetings, Paladins. My ship here has recently been given charge of two prisoners that I feel may be...of interest to you.” The soldier smirked coldly. “We are willing to offer a trade. Your lions for the prisoners’ lives.” The transmission ended abruptly, giving the Paladins and Alteans no chance to question him.

“That might be my family!” Pidge cried out, “there’s no way he’d say it like that if it wasn’t, right?”  
“We can’t be totally sure, they didn’t show the prisoners to us…” Allura said, “We should be careful.”  
“They’ll probably be aware that we’re going to try and fake them out, as well.” Shiro added, “We have to be on guard. No distractions. Now let’s go!” 

Soon after, the five flew out in their lions towards the Galra fleet.  
“Keep your eyes on that planet nearby, there may be more ships hiding on the other side of it.” Shiro warned. “Lance, I want you to hang back and fly a bit behind everyone. Keep your eyes on the planet and give us a warning if you see anything.”  
“Right!” Lance slowed his lion, “Gonna keep my eyes on the prize!”  
“Alright, let’s go!” Pidge sounded antsy over the comms, they were really banking on the prisoners being their dad and older brother. 

The lions moved steadily towards the main ship. Everyone was on edge, ready for the Galra to call their bluff of going peacefully. They’d done this fakeout before. 

Lance wondered how Keith was faring. It was his first mission since getting back. The others hadn’t done anything big, since it was dangerous without the five there to form Voltron, but they’d gone on a few. He hoped Keith wasn’t worrying too much. 

Just as they broke formation to start attacking, more ships came, firing at the Paladins and shocking Lance out of his train of thought.

“Lance! Weren’t you watching the planet?!” Shiro yelled.   
Then his lion went dark. It must be some sort of power failure. With only dim red emergency lights to see with, Lance scrambled around the cockpit, pressing every button that looked like it might turn the lion back on. He was then jolted backwards, hitting his head on the floor hard. Blue Lion was somehow moving forward on its own, and quickly.   
“Blue..?” Lance called out, hoping it meant the lion was still on. He stayed on the floor. His head hurt. It was dark. This was not good. 

What felt like only a moment later, light flooded the cockpit. Lance flinched at how bright it was, and squinted to see what was happening. Two Galra soldiers entered, and one roughly yanked him off the floor. Fighting off the wave of nausea that washed over him, Lance struggled and managed to break free from the soldier. He staggered backwards and reached at his hip for his bayard. Where was his bayard?! His eyes darted around the room looking for it, it must have gotten away when he fell. Eyes locked onto it, Lance started towards it, but staggered again. He was dizzy. This was really not good. The second Galra soldier snatched it off the ground.

“This what you’re looking for, defender of the universe?” he sneered at Lance. The first soldier grabbed him again, twisting his arms painfully behind his back and cuffing him. They forced him forward, out of the Blue Lion. Lance was having difficulty walking straight. Dizziness and nausea causing him to stumble and sway unsteadily. The soldier carrying his bayard rammed it into his back, shoving him forward. Lance landed hard, with nothing but his face and body to catch his fall.   
“Get up.” Barked one of the soldiers. Lance wasn’t sure anymore which was which. He was too slow getting up, and received a swift kick in the ribs. He crumpled back to the ground, and slowly rose again, looking around wildly to see if the other lions were on the Galra ship as well.   
“Just tase him, he’s not going to move fast enough like this.” Lance jerked his head up to the soldiers, and suddenly electricity flowed through his body. The pain was second only to when the Galra bomb went off in the castle. The ground seemed to spin below him, and he blacked out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> man so I totally realized that there's almost a trope of Lance being the one getting into trouble in fics...woops!  
> and as always, feel free to check me out at ladynikkiliza.tumblr.com or @nikkineedssleep on twitter!!! :3


	7. 6 - Concussed

Lance woke later in a completely enclosed room. A prisoner’s cell. Everything ached, especially his head. He looked around, glad the room was dimly lit. There was one other prisoner in the cell with him. It looked like they were curled in on themselves. Lance started to stand up to go see who it was, but the resulting nausea and dizziness forced him back down. What a great time for a concussion. Lance settled for crawling, and slowly made his way to the other prisoner.

It was Shiro. “...Shiro…?” Lance murmured. Shiro slowly turned to look at him, and his eyes widened in recognition.  
“Lance!...” he started, anything he may have been going to say halting as he took his teammate’s appearance in. “Are you okay?” he stared at what he could see of Lance’s forehead through the helmet’s faceplate.  
“Um,” Lance started. He slowly took off his helmet, and gingerly touched his forehead. He felt a massive knot forming. “Is it bruised?”  
Shiro nodded, “it’s really dark already. Are you okay?”  
“I probably have a concussion. Are you okay?” Lance brushed it off, trying to deflect attention off of himself. Shiro looked terrible. His armor wasn’t dinged up too badly, but the look in his eyes said everything.

 

“What do we do?!” Hunk shouted over the comms. He, Pidge, and Keith had managed to avoid the energy burst that took out the power on the Black and Blue Lions, but were at a loss with their plan ruined.  
“I think I might have an idea,” Pidge said after thinking for a moment, “It might be a long shot, though.”  
“Let’s hear it.” Keith said nervously.   
“Okay, so remember how I modified my lion with a cloaking device from the invisible maze?”  
“Yeah?” Keith asked.  
“Well, in my free time before we all were brought back, I added them to everyone’s lions. I think we should retreat, use that, and sneak in. The hangar entrance is still open on their ship, see?”  
“Aren’t we basically walking right into their hands, though?” Hunk asked, “This seems like a bad idea.”  
“We’ll have to hurry. If we stay invisible til we land, we can catch them off guard. I need us all shooting the second we land in there. Does that sound good?”  
“It’s probably our best shot,” Keith said.  
“Yeah, let’s do it.” Hunk agreed uneasily. 

The three looped back, far away enough that the Galra fleet wouldn’t notice them literally disappear, and came back towards the ship. They landed quickly in the hangar, firing until it was cleared of everything but the lions. They climbed out of their lions and grouped in front of them. The Blue and Black lions were back on.

“Okay, so what now? Please tell me there’s more to this plan.” Hunk eyed the doorway to the rest of the ship, making sure no one else was coming in.  
“We could split up,” Keith offered. “I could dress like a soldier and figure out where the prisoners are kept. I’ll keep my comm hidden under my hair so you can hear me.”  
“That’s perfect!” Pidge nodded.   
“Sounds good to me.” Hunk agreed.

Keith changed quickly and walked through the ship, trying his best to look inconspicuous. He could walk the walk pretty easily, but he had kept his human height, much shorter than your average Galra. Pidge and Hunk had gone through a cargo elevator from the hangar, so he didn’t need to worry about them being found as soldiers practically poured to that area of the ship.   
After some wandering, Keith found a computer room of some sort that had been left attended by only a couple of drones. Perfect, he wouldn’t have to talk like he knew what he was doing. He slipped into the room silently and took the drones out with ease. He pressed his hand to the control panel. The computer did its thing, bringing up files and files. Keith opened up the map on the screen.

“Pidge, Hunk, can you hear me?” he asked quietly, in case anyone happened to be outside the room.  
“Yeah, we can hear you” Pidge whispered, “You got the map?”  
“Yeah.” Keith answered. “All the prisoners cells are on the fifth floor.”  
“Got it.” Hunk said. The elevator could be heard through the comms.  
“Okay, we’re here.” Pidge whispered after a short wait. “Tell us where to go, Keith.”  
“Okay, so if you leave the elevator you’ll take a left down the hallway and go straight for a bit. Pass straight through the first intersection, and then take another left at the second one.” Keith was silently grateful for the Invisible Maze at the castle. This was even easier, since the walls were visible and wouldn’t shock them. He led the two through the halls easily.

“Okay, looks like we’re here. We’re going to go through these cells and get everyone out.” Pidge said. “When I say we’re ready, I need you to cause some sort of diversion so we can get back, okay?”  
“Sounds good.” Keith responded. Now all he could do was wait. And worry. He hoped that Lance and Shiro were with the prisoners and not somewhere worse. 

Hunk and Pidge took down the few Galra drones guarding the cells with ease, using their hands to unlock the cell doors. They were getting antsy. Cell after cell ended up being completely empty.  
“This is looking really bad…” Hunk said under his breath.  
“Yeah...I hope at least Lance and Shiro are here…”Pidge nodded, hope of their family being here almost completely lost.  
They arrived at the last cell soon after.   
“Ready?” Hunk looked at Pidge, who nodded. Hunk opened the cell door.  
“Hunk! Pidge!” Lance called out to them. He and Shiro still sat in the same spot next to each other.  
“Guys! Are you okay?!” Hunk rushed in, Pidge following suit.  
“Mostly.” Shiro responded. “I’m dinged up, but I’m alright. I blanked out, so I must have behaved well enough for them to not do much to me. I can’t remember for sure though.” Shiro grimaced. “Lance on the other hand, probably has a concussion.”  
“Oh man. Here, Lance I’ll keep you steady.” Hunk slowly helped Lance up.  
“So did you free the other prisoners?” Shiro asked.  
Pidge looked crestfallen. “There were none. You’re the only prisoners. It’s like they kept all the cells empty purposely to mess with us, and to waste our time.”  
“That’s not good, we should hurry out of here then.”   
“Okay, Keith. We’re ready for that diversion. Make it good.” Pidge said into the comms.   
“Where is he?” Lance asked, wobbling a bit. He leaned against Hunk for support.  
“A computer room somewhere. He pulled up a map to help us find you guys.” Hunk explained.

“Alright, before I do anything I’m going to need you to get back on the cargo elevator.” Keith said. “Let me know when you’re heading down it.”  
“Okay.” Pidge responded. Keith gave directions back to the cargo elevator, to prevent them accidentally getting lost and wasting more precious time.  
“Are you going down it yet? I’m hearing soldiers heading back this way, now.” Keith sounded uneasy.  
“Yeah, we are. Do your thing.” Hunk said. Getting ready to return to their lions, Shiro and Lance put their helmets back on, turning their comms on as well.

As the elevator took the four down, they heard alarms blaring through the ship, signaling an emergency of some kind.   
“Attention soldiers! The paladins have been located on the seventh floor of the ship near the armory! Capture them at all costs!” A voice that was distorted but definitely belonged to Keith shouted over the ship’s comms. “Vrepit Sa!” he hurriedly added, trying for authenticity.

“Is it a good idea to send them to the armory..?” Hunk asked. “I feel like we don’t want them to be right by their weapons.”  
“We don’t...but that’s a pretty good strategy. It’s a likely place to stock up so that we can fight back, right?” Pidge thought aloud. “Plus thats seven floors away from the hangar on the bottom.”  
“I guess, I just don’t have a good feeling about sending them there.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter didn't need too much added to it, thank goodness!! I like being able to update super fast like this.  
> And as always, contact me at ladynikkiliza.tumblr.com or @nikkineedssleep on twitter!


	8. 7 - Ride or Die

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance doesn't know when is a good idea to not rush into danger.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had to actually write this entire chapter from scratch because I didn't like the draft version heehee! That coupled with working all weekend made writing take a biiiit more time. Hope you enjoy <3

They reached the hangar shortly after and stepped out of the elevator.  
“Keith, we’re here waiting for you.” Hunk said into the comm.  
“Just go, I’m coming!” Keith shouted into his comm, panting. “I got found out, so just go, they’re on their way back already!”  
“Oh no.” Pidge said. “Lance, you okay to pilot your lion back to the castle?”  
“Yeah, but -” Lance looked back towards the entryway of the hangar.  
“Lance, bud, that’s really not a good idea with a concussion and all. I’m sure Keith will be fine…” Hunk tried to sound reassuring, but his voice had a nervous edge to it.  
“Just get in your lion, Lance. Please.” Shiro looked at him pleadingly. “You’re injured, and we don’t even know where in this ship Keith is.”

The sound of a struggle came over the comms from Keith’s end, then the sound of the comm being broken. Then silence. Lance barely took note of the others talking to him, and made a running start to the entryway. The ground seemed to rise up to his feet, and his head spun, but he pressed on. He put all of his focus into putting one foot in front of the other, not even hearing his teammates’ protests. There was only one thing on his mind, finding Keith. 

Taking a moment to lean against the wall and try to steady himself, Lance hid himself the best he could and listened, trying to hear if any Galra soldiers were nearby. He figured they’d either lead him to Keith, the best scenario, or back to the hangar. 

“-and we still have two of the lions on our ship, sir.” Lance focused in on a soldier’s voice as it came into earshot.  
“So we have two Paladins here, hm?” Lance could hear the grimace in this one’s voice, he was practically snarling the words out.  
“Yes, sir. One of them is the half Galra that the Commander is dealing with, and the other one was given a thorough beating earlier, so he should be easy to take down.” Lance’s heart skipped a beat.  
“Don’t underestimate them.”  
“He has no weapon, sir. It was confiscated and taken to the storage area on the third floor.”  
“Regardless. Keep your guard up and find him.” 

Lance silently thanked their conversation for giving him an idea on where he needed to go. He waited until the two were out of earshot again, and made his way out of his hiding spot. He needed to get to the third floor, and get there fast. He was utterly defenseless without his bayard.

Lance wandered almost aimlessly through the halls, trying to find an elevator, some stairs, something to get to the third floor. It felt like he was walking in circles. He felt guilty taking as much time as he did, but frequent breaks to collect himself were unfortunately a necessity. The longer he went, the dizzier and more off-kilter he felt. 

Soon after Lance ran into a Galra soldier, one of the ones he overheard before, he realized after the soldier had shouted at him, rushing in to attack. Lance barely managed to dodge the beam from his laser gun. He swerved around the soldier, all jerky movements and wobbling balance. He felt like he might keel over and die right then and there, he was so dizzy. 

The Galra tossed his laser gun to the ground and unsheathed a dagger. He lunged at Lance, snarling with hatred and anger. 

“For Emperor Zarkon!” He shouted, bloodlust thick in his voice and glinting in his eyes.

Lance had to act. Fast. He couldn’t just stand there frozen - he’d get stabbed and die. He couldn’t die here. Especially without finding Keith. Lance moved, steadying his footing. He drew himself back, and when the Galra soldier was close enough, smashed his head into the soldier’s with all of his strength. They both fell, and Lance’s head swam with stars for a moment. It seemed like the Galra soldier was knocked out, though, and Lance took the opportunity to take his laser gun and run.

He didn’t get far before he started hearing the sounds of a battle. Head still swimming, Lance tried his best to hurry a bit more. He soon found himself in the large, open center of the ship, it looked like a travel area, with multiple elevators of different sizes. In the middle was Keith, fighting the ship’s commander. Lance snuck in, staying on the outside edges of the massive room.

Lance looked at his stolen laser gun, trying to quickly figure out which end was the front, it looked a lot different from the gun his bayard turned into, and he didn’t want to end up like Allura had - after a while of everyone being safe back at the Castle of Lions, Shiro and Allura felt comfortable enough to laugh at that part of the situation on the Galra hub. Figuring out the business end of the laser gun, Lance tried his best to stop wobbling long enough to take a steady aim at the Galra Commander.

Missed.

“Pitiful! You Paladins truly do not know when you are losing!” The Commander’s voice boomed. He looked straight at Lance, smirking, “You don’t even know how to fire a weapon, how on earth do you expect to win against the Galra Empire?!” 

“Lance?!” Keith looked over at Lance in almost disbelief, “Why didn’t you leave?!” A distraught expression flashed on his face for a moment, before being replaced with anger. Keith’s go-to emotion when things were tough. “Why didn’t you get to safety?!”

Lance didn’t respond. He sucked in a deep breath, trying once again to aim steadily. He exhaled slowly, pulling the trigger. Firing. The shot didn’t make its mark, but didn’t completely miss. The Galra commander folded, hissing, clutching at his leg for a moment. Lance didn’t think it was going to be enough time to get out, until Keith launched himself over to Lance using his armor’s jetpack. He rushed both of them onto the nearest elevator, just in time to escape the Commander’s wrath.

“Does your helmet’s comm still work?” Keith asked urgently.  
“Yeah...I’ll let them know we need out,” Lance mumbled. He felt a stronger wave of nausea than he was before, thanks to Keith’s jetpack use. He knew it was necessary though. “Hey guys, we need an extraction. We’re on an elevator right now,” he spoke into the comms.  
“We’ll be there in a sec to get you, go ahead and get off at whatever floor you’re on right now, we’ll bust through the hull and fly you to your lions. It’ll be quicker that way.” Pidge replied.  
“Pidge said to stop on the floor we’re on.” Lance told Keith, who nodded and stopped the lift. 

The two exited the elevator, Lance leaning against Keith to steady himself. He looked Keith up and down, now getting a chance to actually look at him. He wasn’t...terrible looking. But his borrowed Galra armor was dented and dinged pretty badly, meaning he was probably littered with bruises underneath.

“Are you okay?” Lance asked quietly.  
“I’m fine. Don’t worry about it.” Keith’s words were short, clipped.  
“You don’t sound fine.” Lance pressed.  
“Seriously?” Keith whipped around to face Lance, who almost fell from the sudden movement. “Sorry - ah, just. Why are you worrying about me when clearly you should be worrying about yourself!?” He steadied Lance as he spoke, frustration and worry clear on his face.  
“I can’t help it, okay? What if you got hurt really badly or something?”  
“How do you think I feel then, you did get hurt badly! Uuughhh!” Keith groaned, “You’re so frustrating, Lance.”  
“Hey, well...well so are you!” The two glowered dramatically at each other for a moment.

“Okay guys, stay where you are. We’re ready to open up the hull and get you out. There’s a store room of some kind to your right that’s got no soldiers or drones in it.” Hunk’s voice came through the comms.  
“Sounds good, Hunk.” Lance responded.

Moments later the sounds of the ship’s hull being bust open could be heard through the thick door of the storeroom. Keith opened the door as the Black Lion’s mouth opened, blocking the room’s contents from being sucked out into space. The two Paladins went across the room at a steady pace, not too fast. Keith silently refused to let Lance hurry too much, not wanting to make him too nauseous.

“Hey, wait a second.” Lance’s face lit up at something off to the side.  
“Lance, seriously? We have to go.” Keith tugged gently at him.  
“No, it’s important! Look!” Lance pointed. It was his bayard. He went off to grab it before Keith could make any protests about getting it for him, returning quickly. “I was so worried I’d never see it again, I’m so happy!” He grinned.  
“Great, now let’s go before someone catches up to us.” Keith urged Lance forward and they entered the Black Lion’s mouth.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always feel free to check me out at ladynikkiliza.tumblr.com or @nikkineedssleep on twitter please and thankss c:


	9. 8 - Both Kinds of Healing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last chapter oh gosh I'm dyin. I hope you guys liked reading this as much as I liked writing it!!

“Thanks, Shiro!” Lance gave him a cheesy thumbs up as he lowered himself slowly, sitting on the floor of the cockpit. He braced himself as the Black Lion took off towards the hangar, waves of nausea and vertigo worse than when Keith had used his jetpack to get them away from the Galra Commander. 

“You sure you’re going to be okay to fly?” Keith asked, his voice hushed.  
“Who, me? I’ll be fine!” Lance feigned confidence the best he could. Keith shot him a worried glance, but didn’t argue with him. He hung back near Lance, too nervous to get close to Shiro, way too nervous to try and talk to him. Luckily the trip was short. 

The two made their way out of the Black Lion and towards their own lions, Lance refusing any sort of support from Keith. Lance stepped tentatively into Blue, nervous he was going to get more nauseous while piloting. He was almost immediately reassured by Blue gently nudging at his mind. Lance smiled now, sitting himself down with a bit more confidence. They could do this.

The Red and Blue lions met the other three soon after, shooting off small Galra ships. The five quickly formed Voltron and took the main ship head on, using Yellow’s blaster to damage multiple areas of the ship at once. Once the main ship was down, they turned Red’s sword on the remaining small fighter ships that hadn’t been picked off by the castle’s defense system.

“This is amazing!” Hunk shouted, grinning over the video feed.  
“Yeah, it feels so great to be able to beat these guys again!” Pidge agreed.  
“We did great out there, team. Now let’s head back to the castle!” Shiro ordered, and Voltron split into the five lions again. The team flew out to the castle in high spirits.

“Keith! You really saved the day, today, you know.” Shiro approached him slowly, but was smiling sincerely. He pulled Keith in for a hug. “I didn’t get to talk to you about training the other day. Please know I don’t blame you. This is...hard. But we can work through it as a team.”   
Keith smiled, “Sounds good, Shiro.” He broke from the hug after a moment and looked around, “Uh, where’s Lance?”  
“Oh, he hasn’t come out of his lion yet.”  
“Is he okay?” Keith looked from Shiro to where the Blue Lion’s part of the hangar was.   
“Well, we haven’t heard anything from him, but I’m sure he’s fine, we would have heard something if it wasn’t.”  
“Well I’m gonna go and check,” Keith trailed off, walking away from Shiro before he’d even finished his sentence. He knew everything should be okay at least, but he couldn’t help worrying.

He found Lance sitting on the floor of the cockpit.  
“What’re you doing on the floor?” Keith looked at him, now confused and worried.  
“Uh. Well I didn’t want to pull a Hunk and puke. Blue wouldn’t like it. I don’t really feel so hot right now.” Lance slowly, carefully took his helmet off, placing it on the floor next to him.  
“Your forehead…” Keith trailed off. He gently took Lance’s head in his hands to look at the bruising.   
“Um.” Lance said, blushing. Keith let go of Lance immediately, face reddening and ears flattening against his head.  
“Want me to...help you up?” Keith offered, not making eye contact.   
“Yeah, thanks Keith.” Lance nodded. “Just go slow, okay?”  
Keith carefully helped Lance stand and let him lean on him as a support. As they exited the Blue Lion, Keith silently worried about Lance wobbling around as they walked. 

“Go ahead and help Lance to the healing pods,” Shiro said when they got back to the main part of the hangar, “I’ll get Allura or Coran to help you out with them.”  
“Thanks, Shiro.” Keith nodded.

The two made their way to the healing pods slowly. Keith kept forcibly slowing the pace when Lance seemed like he was stumbling more.  
“Are you sure you’re good to walk? I could carry you, you know.” Keith offered.  
“No way. I’m fine enough to walk.” Lance protested, swaying more.  
“Dude! I don’t think that’s ‘fine enough to walk’ Lance.” Keith huffed, and picked Lance up anyway.  
“Keith, seriously?” Lance groaned.  
“I’ll make a deal, if you’re worried that I’m hurt or something and want to carry me, I’ll let you.”  
“No!” Lance protested, “Just put me down.”  
“Don’t think you can lift me?” Keith teased.  
“I can! But -- wait. You’re worried?” Lance looked up at Keith in surprise.  
“Yes!” Keith sounded exasperated. “I like you, remember? Why would I not be worried?”  
The two finished the walk to the healing pods in an awkward silence.  
“I have a pod ready for Lance right over here,” Allura waved them over, “Is he badly injured?”  
“He’s got a concussion.” Keith said. “I’m just...making sure he didn’t fall on the way here.”  
Lance got into the healing pod with little complaint after being assured that it should only be a few hours before he was good as new. Keith stayed by the pod while he waited, kicking his feet absentmindedly. At some point, Hunk brought in food for him and Lance. Keith ate slowly, trying to use up as much time as possible.

Lance stumbled out of the healing pod some time after Keith had finished eating. He wasn’t sure how much time had passed, he’d avoided looking at the clock so that he wouldn’t start watching it too much.

“You waited here for me?” Lance smiled as Keith steadied him.  
“Yeah, I wouldn’t have been able to think about anything else if I didn’t.” Keith smiled back. The two stayed in the med bay for a bit longer, Keith sitting quietly nearby as Lance ate.

Once he was finished, the two headed down and dropped their plates off in the kitchen, then went to Keith’s room. They walked hand-in-hand, both too nervous to look at the other for more than a moment. They lay down close together in bed, facing each other. Keith would almost rather they spoon. He was nervous, and his twitching ears surely betrayed that fact. He silently thanked his Galra genes for giving him completely yellow eyes. Even if Lance knew he was nervous, he wouldn’t know that he was too nervous to even look at him.

“Keith?” Lance murmured. Keith’s ears flicked straight forward in response.  
“Yeah?”  
“Why won’t you look at me?”   
“What are you talking about?” Keith’s entire face flushed, was Lance somehow reading his mind?  
“Your whole head is tilted down, Keith. I can tell.”  
“...Oh.” Keith tilted up, looking at Lance now. His face flushed redder. 

Lance looked at Keith silently for a moment.  
“What are you doing..?” Keith asked. Then Lance leaned in, gently kissing him. Keith’s ears perked from their resting position as he squeezed his eyes shut, before relaxing and leaning into the kiss. They moved closer together on the bed, wrapping their arms around each other.

“Everything’s going to be alright, now.” Lance pulled away from the kiss to smile at Keith again. Keith could tell he was going for a confident look, but the blush spread across his face betrayed him.  
“It’ll be okay. We make a good team.” Keith replied, leaning his head onto Lance’s collarbone.  
“Yeah. We do.” Lance murmured.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feel free to contact me at ladynikkiliza.tumblr.com or @nikkineedssleep on twitter!! <3

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, this is my first fic! Please let me know how I'm doing in the comments, I'm open to constructive criticism!  
> This will most likely have 8 chapters, I'm still tweaking the last part, though so I'm leaving the chapter number a question mark for now :)  
> You can also contact me at ladynikkiliza.tumblr.com!


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